Commission launches Recreation Park

In their regular meeting on Tuesday July 14th the commission approved a Consent Agenda to:

1. join the foreign trade zone extension that is taking place within 90 minutes travel time of the Brunswick port.
2. issued the proclamation supporting the US-Census project and vowing its participation.
3. a letter from the county petitioning the State to install a caution light at the intersection of 301 South and Riverside Road and asking for the right of way to be cleared South of that intersection to increase visibility.
4. implementation of the 2-Card fuel lock system.
5. placing Wainright Loop on the road paving list.
6. the authorization of Billy Lartz and Amy Schultz to issue citations for violations of the County's Code Enforcement Ordinances and Solid Waste / Litter Control Ordinance.
7. continue with fully funded insurance for the next budget year instead of a self insured plan.

On the Regular Agenda the county reviewed and acted upon the following items:

A plan for the first phase of the new Recreation Park was presented by Golden Isles Engineering. Their solid but shoe string approach to building the first four ball fields would use all of the SPLOST money currently in the Recreation SPLOST and all that will be collected between now and the end of the year. To complete Phase One with lights, fences around the backstops, dugouts and other basic essentials would cost another $450,000. There was much discussion on the topic, with Commissioner Summerlin openly opposed to $20 annual recreation fee being placed on the tax bills to fund the project. Commissioner Herrin requested that the $20 annual fee be placed on the ballot and give the people the right to choose if they want a new Recreation Park or or continue to have their children play next to the jail with their parents parking on the side of Highway 301. Commissioner Edgy supported that idea and requested that we get started with the money we have. The September election's only county-wide purpose is to sample the will of the people to see if they desire to have their Commissioners elected by districts or not. The Chairman expressed concerns about the election turnout. With what is certain to be an abnormally low turnout, what real sample of the public will the Commission get. He also questioned if there is time between a September election and November 1st to get a Recreation fee printed on the ballot if it is passed. He will follow up with the Tax Commissioner and see if there is sufficient time or not. Commissioner O'Quinn explained that the Board had appointed him as liaison to the Recreation Board and asked him to get the Recreation Park moving, as the entire board was frustrated that the project had stalled. He stated he was only bringing forth options but he is in support of this option. He went on to explain that it was the previous Board that chose to build the new jail behind the County Barn, and in the middle of the recreation complex, that actually caused these issues. He also asked, "If the voters say no, what then? How will we improve those facilities and make them safer and provide adequate parking?" He also reminded the Commissioners that $20 per year is the equivalent of 6 cents per day, just 6 cents. What can you buy for 6 cents?

In a related matter, the County moved forward with preparing a specification for the paving of Baker Creek road for about 1500 feet to extend the current paving there to the far edge of the Recreation Park. Much ditch work is needed on this road to ensure that there is proper water run off from the recreation facility. Four baseball fields will shed a LOT of water.

The Commissioners also reduced the County's cell phone list from about 60 to about 20 leaving Constitutional Officers, key department heads and key public safety personnel with a County paid cell phone. Many of these will be rotated between shifts, drastically reducing the number of cell phones. Commissioner O'Quinn explained that this will save the County approximately $20,000 annually.

The County has also activated the new credit card system and will have cards available to key public safety personnel after hours. All other County employees will have to come by the County office and "check out" a credit card when they travel.

The ATV ordinance was acted upon. The County moved the effective date of the ordinance to September 1st to give the Tax Commissioner time to get the stickers in and to give the public ample time to get in and purchase the permits. September 1st was also set as the triannual renewal period as this is a 3 years permit. The Commissioners set the 3 year permits to $25 for residential, $30 for commercial, chose the white sticker with orange writing for residential and orange sticker with white writing for commercial. There was a question concerning the insurance requirements. The County attorney will follow up with the language on the ordinance pertaining to insurance and will report back at the August work session. Some of the insurance carriers were asking questions about the various liability levels and what they reflected. Much discussion was held of how the stickers were to be displayed. One school of thought was to ask the owners to acquire the small caution triangles that are typically on golf carts and small tractors. The sticker could be displayed on them. Another choice was a small motorcycle tag style. No action was taken on the display method. The ordinance states that the decal must be clearly displayed. Commissioner Summerlin requested that the funds collected go into a special fund to build or repair roads. More research will be done on the mechanics of this, and it will be reviewed at a later date.

The County approved the remaining right of way deeds and agreements that are needed to close out Waynesville Road to prepare it for paving. There are four land owners that have reached verbal agreements and have contracts that can now be signed. The County is also requesting legal releases from some of the titleholders of these properties. Once these are acquired, the deeds can be signed and the right of way phase will be closed. In previous meetings the County Manager had reported that the county had received $750,000 in grant funding from the DOT to cover Brantley's matching funds for this project. Since no paperwork can be located on this, recent discussions held with DOT have raised concerns about the existence of these grant funds. If the $750,000 is found not to exist, the county will have to decide how to proceed.

Commissioner Herrin brought the topic of vacation pay for one employee recently retired. Based on the situation, and the multiple ways the personnel policy could be interpreted, the County voted unanimously to award the vacation time to the retiree. The issue revolved around the fact that it had been interpreted that employees had to actually work after their hire date to be awarded vacation time for that new year. The Board will modify the personnel policy in the next Board meeting to eliminate any vague language or ambiguity. Apologies were given to the retiree for the ordeal and he'll receive his vacation pay.

The lease between the County and the Airport Authority was discussed. The County attorney and the Airport Authority are at an difference of opinion. Copies of the County Attorney's proposal and the Airport Authority's proposal were reviewed and the item was put on the August agenda.

Mary Gibson reported that they had worked out the issue with the additional dirt that was needed at the Airport and the project will again get underway. The County will spend no more than the agreed upon $75,000 as it's part of this almost $3 million project. The Airport Authority has requested a change on project management and stepped up to weekly status meetings that will be held face to face to ensure that the project comes to closure without further issue.

The County approved the proposal by OREMC to install lights at the Brantley County Jail facility. This is one of the roadblocks to the County being able to house Federal Prisoners. Once these are in place, the Sheriff will be able to put the Brantley County facility on the list of jails that the Federal Government can use. The Sheriff is in contact with Camden, Glynn and other surrounding counties, inviting them to house prisoners at the Brantley County Facility.

The County voted to hire one person at the road department to replace the two people that just retired / resigned. Commissioner Edgy explained that since we are budgeting to put on a full time Road Superintendent next year, this will likely put two more people back on their tools, picking up two workers then. Applications can be completed at the County Commissioners office in Nahunta.

The attorney presented the process for closing Buck Lake Road and explained that this would be a long and lengthy process. A copy of the Glynn County process for road abandonment was provided for the board's review.

The Saddle Club lease with the County was discussed. Commissioner Edgy and Summerlin had met with Mr. Lane and he had some questions about the lease. Commissioner Edgy will line up a meeting with the County Attorney and Mr. Lane to clear up any confusion.

The County will have a called meeting next Tuesday night at 6pm at the County Commission building to focus on the Planning Commission's latest round of ordinance recommendations for Mobile Homes, Mobile Home Parks, RV Parks, etc. There will be a few other items on the agenda.

Video by Robby Thomas

Public Safety and Fiscal Accountability

In the Brantley County Commission Work Session meeting last night, the following issues were discussed and put on the agenda for next Tuesday's Regular Meeting.

The final parcels of right of way needed to pave Waynesville Road are under agreement. The County is working through the paperwork to provide four land owners with contracts and new deeds to sign to close this out. The Chairman met with the remaining 6 land owners over the past weeks and came to a consensus with them to acquire the right of way and start paving Waynesville Road. Meetings are set with the engineers, surveyors and DOT to put together a time line and "key next steps" to get this project underway. The County will publish this information here and in the local papers as soon as it is available.

The Board placed an item on the consent agenda to fill three positions on the road department that were recently vacated. Once this is approved next week, the Board will post the positions and begin taking applications.

The Chairman asked that the Board agree to endorse a letter to the DOT and legislators asking that a caution light be installed at Riverside Road and 301 in Hickox. After having several wrecks at this location, a petition is being circulated to support action at this intersection. The Chairman also asked that the right of way South of that intersection be cleared by the State. When the road was "fixed" recently, the curve at Hickox was actually made sharper and the visibility around that curve was reduced. With the clearing of that right of way, visibility to the South would be increased by 2 or 3 times what it is today. This was placed on the consent agenda.

A presentation was given by the local US Census Bureau. They explained that residents would be receiving the "short form" that should be filled out and returned for the census. There is a new program this year where they are hiring census workers from within the County to work within the County as they know their hometowns better than someone from out of town. The US Census Office in Waycross can be contacted for more information. They explained that the best way to not be bothered by a Census worker was to fill out the short form, which is only 6 questions, and return it. These numbers are used to help Brantley County apply for grants and funding for road projects, school projects and a host of other kinds of assistance. A resolution to participate in this project was placed on the consent agenda.

The Development Authority presented the opportunity for Brantley County to benefit by joining in the expansion of the Foreign Trade Zone 144 from Brunswick. Companies who use raw materials that are shipped in from other countries who are located within the foreign trade zone are exempt from paying the Customs Duty on items that do not leave the foreign trade zone and go into the country. This helps them reduce costs and they find those places attractive to build factories and distribution centers. By Brantley County agreeing to enter into the Foreign Trade Zone, the County has yet anther advantage to attract industry. This was placed on the Consent Agenda.

The County Cell Phone account was discussed briefly. The need to add the land fill, one phone for each ambulance and one phone for each police car was discussed. This item will be placed on the regular agenda for more discussion at the regular meeting.
The Planning Commission presented updates on the Building Code Ordinances, Mobile Home Ordinances, Fees and Fines associated with same. The Commissioners will review these and take them up at the Regular Meeting next week.

The Fuel Lock card system that has been under review was discussed and the County agreed to put this item on the consent agenda. The County Manager was instructed to begin the development of a list of personnel that would need a fuel card and a list of vehicles that would need to have a fuel cards assigned to them. This was placed on the consent agenda.

Wainright Loop was placed on the road paving list and temporary repairs to that road were already under way.

The presentation by Golden Isles Engineering was postponed until the regular meeting next Tuesday.

The County took no action on the items of inspections in the City, as they Mayor has notified the County that they will be issuing their own permits and will be performing their own inspections.

The Commission placed an item on the consent agenda to allow Billy Lartz and other members of the Code Dnforcement to write citations for visible violations at residences around the County. The Board made it clear that any type of inspection violation would have to come from the certified building inspector. Items like skirting and other such visible citations can be issues without the inspector's involvement.

The abandonment of Buck Lake Road was placed on the regular agenda. The County attorney will provide information on that process at the next meeting.

An agreement with the Saddle Club was discussed where they would use some property at the Schlatterville Park for their events. A draft lease was provided by the attorney and a couple of the Commissioners will make sure that the Saddle Club representatives have reviewed this and given the County feedback prior to next week's meeting.

The ATV ordinance, stickers and fee for same was discussed. A fee of $25 to $30 was discussed, which would be a three year permit. The deadline to have a sticker was set at 60 days from the passage of the ordinance, which is rapidly approaching. The Board discussed extending the deadline, to give the Tax Commissioner time to get the stickers in and to give the public time to comply with the ordinance. All of this was placed on the regular agenda.

A discussion about vacation compensation for employees on medical leave came before the Board. During a recent event it was interpreted, based on the employment policy, that an employee had to work during the anniversary period or the "new year" to accrue vacation for that period. If the employee was on medical leave during that transition, or left before that anniversary date, no additional vacation would be accrued. The Board asked the staff to review the policy and the events around this situation and report back at the regular meeting next week. If the employee was shorted in any way, the County vowed to make it right. If the decision that was made is supported by the policy, the County will have to determine if they want to change the policy or not. All of this was placed on the regular agenda.

The commission agreed to place an items on the consent agenda stating that Brantley County would remain Fully Insured and would seek bids for services for 2010 that were fully insured. The County had seen several presentations for "self insured plans". The Commission felt that, given the financial situation of the County and the age of its work force, that the self insured plan was not the right way to go.

Finally, a quote from the OREMC to install proper lighting surrounding the outside of the new jail was reviewed and put on the regular agenda. Commissioner Summerlin suggested that the county discuss using 1500 watt bulbs, instead of those quoted, to get more light as they wouldn't use any more electricity than the 400 watt bulbs that were quoted. The County Manager will contact the OREMC and have this discussion and bring that information to the regular meeting.

Financial Status.

As of this meeting, the General Fund Balance for the county is $3,242,244.22 and the regular checking account balance is $262,151. The County has an outstanding loan of $3,100,000 that is due December 31, 2009. Due to the increased activity in the collection of back taxes, the increase of fees and fines from the Constitutional Officers and departments such as EMS, cost cutting measures implemented by the Commission and a host of other activities, the County has managed to operate through the first half of the year without using any borrowed money. Through June, total spending for the County exceeded total revenue by approximately $290,000 with just over $5,000,000 in total spending. Everyone within the County is working very hard to provide basic services and hold down costs and it shows.

Video by Robby Thomas